Like Syracuse’s first opponent, Bryant, California State-Los Angeles’ lineup does not have the height of teams the Orange will face in the Big East. For that reason, the preseason tune-ups aren’t as valuable for the players down low.

Syracuse faces California State-Los Angeles in its second and final exhibition game on Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Carrier Dome.

SU center Darryl Watkins and power forward Terrence Roberts won’t be banging with 6-foot-6 post players for rebounds when they play Connecticut. Forward Matt Gorman can’t expect to have nine blocks like he did on Wednesday.

The smaller teams play differently, too, sending guards into the paint for rebounds rather than releasing them.

‘When they send five guys to the boards and we only have one or two down there, the odds are against you,’ Roberts said.

That’s one of the reasons SU was actually out-rebounded on Sunday, 58-53, despite its height advantage. It’s a misleading statistic, though, like many of the exhibition numbers.

Watkins played only 12 minutes on Wednesday night, something that won’t happen in the regular season. But because of Bryant’s lack of size, the big men rotated to the perimeter, which is counter-productive to Watkins’ game.

‘Whenever we play against a team that is utilizing five guys and they do not have a center, it is always going to be a difficult game for Darryl Watkins because he is not used to being away from the basket,’ SU head coach Jim Boeheim said.

It was also the reason Boeheim didn’t get too excited about Gorman’s nine blocks. It was no disrespect to Gorman, but he was blocking shots that he’ll rarely face after Sunday.

‘The problem with Gorman is that he will not be able to block those shots in our league,’ Boeheim said. ‘When we get against a team with size, those will be baskets.’

Bryant tried to make up for its lack of size by playing zone against Syracuse. It helped the Orange work on its zone offense, which Roberts termed ‘despicable’ at this point in the season. Sophomore guard Eric Devendorf was able to exploit the defense for 30 points, but besides that, SU didn’t shoot or move the ball well.

Considering Cal State-Los Angeles is coached by former SU standout Stephen Thompson, it wouldn’t be shocking if he utilized some of the zone he played for Boeheim.

That won’t do the big men any favors. The preseason games against smaller teams help SU figure out what it needs to work on and develop chemistry in the game situation but certainly doesn’t help the players down low.

‘All the pressure is on us to get the rebounds and the guards get caught up,’ Roberts said. ‘Smaller teams like that, yeah, they’re 6-5, 6-6, 6-7, but they will send a lot of guys down for the rebound, so we got to do a better job getting down and getting rebounds.’

Published on November 1, 2006 at 12:00 pm